Y’all take it easy on Jim and Gail. Long time family friends and good as gold if you know them. Small town with little to no qualified help, so he pretty much does it all mechanically.

I’ve known them since I was 3 years old, but understand what some may think, Jim has no filter and does it his way. I’ve seen it with my own eyes many times. He’s a trip!

Ohhhhh, so you were the one that she was saving the Mexican fishing license for!

The marine industry is hard right now. We're out in the middle of nowhere East Texas. Finding qualified help is impossible. No good young techs, and the good ones leave to work automotive industry or elsewhere that pay much better. We're almost 50 boats deep, but we will take in any and everything, and do our best to help folks when we can. There's still good dealers out there, but we're overrun something fierce and the stress is something serious. Lot lot lot of impatient customers, but we try to take it in stride every day.

good service people are in high demand some dealers have chosen to take care of the folks that buy their boats .

Well. As much as boat mechanics charge, y’all should get paid better.

I don't mind sharing: My guys are on combo base pay and commission pay, but my 2 lead guys average $30/hr, which in East Texas should be pretty good money. Our shop rate is $110/hr. Many of our local tractor dealerships are well over $150/hr, all of the RV shops are in that zone, as well as the big auto dealerships. Good techs will leave because those shops can afford to pay even more at those kind of rates. While we do have a yard full, I still can't get behind raising our rate at this time. Tractors and trucks are used to make money: people will pay to fix them. Boats on the other hand are toys, and while they are just as, if not more difficult to work on than today's automotive stuff (because there's so many vehicles that most have computers, manuals, or other means that tell you exactly how to do the job), I still can't justify raising our rate yet. My 2 cents. Young kids have much better avenues to enter the automotive and diesel tech industry than they do the marine industry. Most business of ANY kind are having labor shortages, but the marine industry is as bad or worse as any.

I don't mind sharing: My guys are on combo base pay and commission pay, but my 2 lead guys average $30/hr, which in East Texas should be pretty good money. Our shop rate is $110/hr. Many of our local tractor dealerships are well over $150/hr, all of the RV shops are in that zone, as well as the big auto dealerships. Good techs will leave because those shops can afford to pay even more at those kind of rates. While we do have a yard full, I still can't get behind raising our rate at this time. Tractors and trucks are used to make money: people will pay to fix them. Boats on the other hand are toys, and while they are just as, if not more difficult to work on than today's automotive stuff (because there's so many vehicles that most have computers, manuals, or other means that tell you exactly how to do the job), I still can't justify raising our rate yet. My 2 cents. Young kids have much better avenues to enter the automotive and diesel tech industry than they do the marine industry. Most business of ANY kind are having labor shortages, but the marine industry is as bad or worse as any.

Instead of the marine industry constantly lamenting the lack of good help, just what are they doing to recruit new talent into the field? Seems like a situation ripe with opportunities for partnerships with schools and junior colleges.

Instead of the marine industry constantly lamenting the lack of good help, just what are they doing to recruit new talent into the field? Seems like a situation ripe with opportunities for partnerships with schools and junior colleges.